The invention refers to a tooth shaped link member of a tooth chain with apertures and two end terminal toes for form-fitting engagement with a toothed gear and having an outer contour corresponding to the toothed gear, and wherein the toes are provided with a contact surface for gliding on a gliding surface of a guide body. Furthermore, the invention refers to a transport tooth chain comprising a plurality of these link members and a transport conveyer comprising at least a plurality of these transport tooth chains.
These types of link members, transport tooth chains and transport conveyors are normally utilized in the conveying industry. Thus, for the formation of a linear conveying line with a transport conveyor which is according to a type of conveyor belt, transport tooth chains comprised of links are guided in an endless manner across an elongated conveying device with end terminal diverting—and/or driving rollers. Thereby, at least the driving roller which is configured as a toothed gear engages with the corresponding toes of the link member, respectively the tooth chain. An arrangement of this type is normally operated in environments where high temperatures exist—such as for example during production of hollow glass bodies. These parts of the tooth chain, which are manufactured entirely from steel, reliably withstand the very high temperatures that are generated during such work operations.
A tooth chain of the type referred to is known from DE 198 44 304 C1. The transport tooth chain consists of single link members linked to each other by means of round bolts or by cradle-type joints. A cradle-type joint consists of two parts as compared to a round bolt, namely a cradle pin and a support pin. The support pin is riveted end-terminally with a rivet washer in order to hold the link members together. Both profile pins are held in the apertures of the link member. During movement of the joint, both profile pins are rolling off each other. Thus, as compared to a pin support, no sliding friction occurs in the joint, thereby drastically reducing wear in that area.
In contrast thereto, chain conveyors that do not incorporate similar supplementary parts are also generally known in the prior art. In such conveyors, the tooth chain is conducted within a guiding device formed in the elongated support device similar to a type of gliding bed. The guiding device consists normally of a bottom portion laterally flanked with adjacent vertically extending wall portions. The width of the guiding device is dimensioned in such a manner that the tooth chain is guided therein with little lateral play.
All of the afore-discussed types of tooth chains suffer from the drawback, that the wear on the tooth shaped driving links are very heavy due to the gliding friction between the toes of the link and the guiding device. Optimization of the wear areas has been tried in order to realize a longer serviceable life.
For example, it has been tried to receive the arrangement of the bolts, which extend beyond the outer link members of the tooth chain in a recess in the sidewall of the guiding device, so that the sidewall area can operatively engage directly with the outer link member of the tooth chain.
There were also attempts to reduce the wear on the link members, more precisely the gliding surface of the toes of the link member. Accordingly, the link members were configured shorter, whereby the contact surface was enlarged which reduced the surface pressure between the contact surface and the gliding surface. This configuration leads inevitably too more building parts and to a change in the geometry of the gearing as well as to the division thereof.